All About South Carolina
South Carolina is a constituent state of the United States of America, one of the 13 original colonies. It lies on the southern Eastern Seaboard of the United States. Shaped like an inverted triangle with an east–west base of 285 miles (459 kilometres) and a north–south extent of about 225 miles, the state is bounded on the north by North Carolina, on the southeast by the Atlantic Ocean, and on the southwest by Georgia. It ranks 40th among the 50 states in size and has a geographic area of 31,113 square miles (80,583 square kilometres). Columbia, located in the centre of the state, is the capital and largest city.
Settled by the English in 1670, South Carolina had a wealthy, aristocratic, and influential colonial society based on a plantation agriculture that relied on a labour force of black slaves. By 1730, blacks had come to represent two-thirds of the colony's total population. The plantation system spread into the Piedmont in the early 19th century, and the new state became part of the Cotton Belt that stretched across the South. The Civil War shattered South Carolina's economy and influence, and for a century thereafter the state suffered economic, social, and political turmoil. The 1960s brought a major change as South Carolina's economy industrialized, its metropolitan areas grew, and the civil rights movement swept across the state.
South Carolina can be divided geologically into three separate provinces. A portion of the Blue Ridge Mountains dominates the northwestern corner of the state, covering about 2 percent of the state's area; the highest point in South Carolina, Mount Sassafras, 3,554 feet (1,083 metres), lies on a crest in this region. The Piedmont, with an elevation ranging from about 300 to 1,200 feet, stretches over about a third of the state from the mountains to the midlands around Columbia. The Coastal Plain comprises the southern and eastern thirds of the state, and its elevation varies from about 300 feet to sea level; the 187-mile coastline has sandy beaches and salt marshes. Two major boundaries separate these provinces: the fall line, where rivers form major rapids, divides the sedimentary rocks of the Coastal Plain from the metamorphic rocks of the Piedmont; and the Brevard zone is a fault line separating the Blue Ridge and the Piedmont.
The rugged Blue Ridge Mountains formed some 250,000,000 years ago from the collision of the early North American continent with Africa. These mountains and their outliers, such as Table Rock and Pinnacle Mountain, rise 1,000 to 2,000 feet above the Piedmont and constitute an area devoted to wilderness preservation and recreation. Their forests include many northern species, such as white pine and hemlock, relicts of the Pleistocene epoch. The poorly developed Blue Ridge soils lack clay accumulation beneath the surface and are not well suited for farming. The Coastal Plain is slightly rolling near the midlands and flat toward the coast. The Grand Strand is an unbroken beach that extends from the North Carolina line almost to Winyah Bay, but southward the coast is fringed by the Sea Islands that extend into Georgia.
During the first half of the 20th century, agriculture was the key to the state's economy, but by 1923 the value of manufactured goods exceeded that of agricultural products. Agriculture continues to be important, but its role has declined as manufacturing and service employment have increased. South Carolina's industry is typified by low-wage, nondurable-goods manufacturing. South Carolina's major resources include its climate and forests. Known for sunny summer beaches, the state seeks a year-round tourism based on golf and other recreational activities.
Charleston was the cultural centre of the South during the colonial period and early 19th century. Charleston is noted for its splendid, well-preserved 18th- and 19th-century houses and public buildings. Beaufort and Georgetown also have well-maintained historic districts, and many other South Carolina cities have preserved buildings, restored the architectural integrity of downtowns, and designated historic areas.
South Carolina is crisscrossed by interstate highways that link it with every part of the country, but railway mileage has declined. The two major railroads continue to abandon branch lines serving smaller towns, although a few of these are now operated as independent short lines. Major air carriers serve the metropolitan centres of Greenville–Spartanburg, Columbia, and Charleston, as well as Myrtle Beach, while commuter airlines connect smaller cities with regional hubs. The State Ports Authority has developed Charleston into the major container port on the South Atlantic coast and also operates port facilities in Georgetown and Port Royal.
